Dem touts bill to ‘decentralize’ the federal government

Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) is touting a bill that would “decentralize” the federal government, moving parts away from Washington.

“We have a lot more employees in the federal government than we ever imagined as a country, and we are in a position where a good number of these jobs don’t necessarily need to be in Washington, D.C.,” he told the Washington Examiner in an interview published Saturday.

Ryan introduced a bill in April to create a bipartisan commission that would work with the General Services Administration — which is charged with managing federal agencies — to recommend federal agencies to relocate.

{mosads}The bill doesn’t currently have any co-sponsors, the Examiner reported, but Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) introduced a similar resolution in January.

The Ohio Democrat says his bill is less about breaking up the federal government’s presence in the D.C. metro region and more about spreading economic benefits throughout the country.

“Even if you could move 10 percent of the 300,000 — back of the envelope — say you could move 30,000 jobs and you can move them a thousand at a time,” Ryan said. “I can’t tell you what that would do for the city of Youngstown or Gary, Indiana, or Milwaukee.”

Ryan is urging his fellow Democrats to get on board with his proposal, especially those in the Midwest.

“Democrats should be for decentralizing the government, you know? It is big. It is bureaucratic. It does need to be closer to the people,” Ryan told the newspaper.